Punjab-Haryana High Court
Raman Kumar Alias Gora And Others vs State Of Punjab on 19 September, 2013
Author: Fateh Deep Singh
Bench: Hemant Gupta, Fateh Deep Singh
CRA-D-48-DB of 2009 & CRA-D-552-DB of 2010 1
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT
CHANDIGARH
Criminal Appeal No. D-48-DB of 2009
Date of decision: September 19, 2013
Raman Kumar alias Gora and others
....Appellants
Versus
State of Punjab
....Respondent
Criminal Appeal No. D-552-DB of 2010
Date of decision: September 19, 2013
Vijay Kumar
....Appellant
Versus
State of Punjab
....Respondent
Coram: Hon'ble Mr. Justice Hemant Gupta
Hon'ble Mr. Justice Fateh Deep Singh
1. Whether the Reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the
judgment ?
2. To be referred to the Reporters or not ?
3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest ?
Present: Mr. Sandeep Arora, Legal Aid Counsel for the appellants
Mr. Pavit Mattewal, Additional Advocate General, Punjab
Fateh Deep Singh, J.
It was on a telephonic message received on 9.6.2007 in Police Station Division No. 6, Jalandhar that Inspector Gurmit Singh rushed to the Tiwana Dalbir Singh 2014.01.21 16:43 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document. High Court, Chandigarh CRA-D-48-DB of 2009 & CRA-D-552-DB of 2010 2 Civil Hospital and met complainant Surinder Pal who made statement by way of Ex. PF wherein the complainant made the following averments:-
"On the above said date the complainant along with his friend Manohar Lal after visiting his ailing brother-in-law Som Nath in the hospital at Devi Talab Mandir went to the house of his brother Joginder Pal alias Gogi (deceased) in Bhargo Camp for fetching meals. On coming to know that Joginder Pal and his wife Jyoti had gone to Lakkar Chowk, the complainant and his friend went to met them there. At about 10.30 PM when they were near Lakkar Chowk, they heard shrieks of Jyoti of "Maar Ditta Maar Ditta". On reaching the place the complainant saw Ghoki and his brother Vijay Kumar both armed with Kirpans, Deepa Bhaiya and his uncle Gora alias Ram Kumar armed with Datars along with Pinki Pandit also armed with Datar accompanied by 4/5 persons assaulting Joginder Pal and were remarking that they will taking revenge of the murder of Dulla. Meanwhile, Ghoki gave a blow of kirpan on the head of Joginder Pal. Similar blow by Vijay Kumar landed on the head of the deceased followed by blow of Datar by accused Deepa Bhaiya on the head of the deceased who fell down. While the deceased was lying on the ground, accused Gora and Pinki Pandit gave repeated blows of their weapons hitting on various parts of mouth, head and blow of kirpan by Ghoki hit on the Tiwana Dalbir Singh 2014.01.21 16:43 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document. High Court, Chandigarh CRA-D-48-DB of 2009 & CRA-D-552-DB of 2010 3 right wrist of the deceased. The unidentified persons also gave various injuries. The accused thereafter ran away. Injured was rushed to the hospital where he died. The motive behind this occurrence was that earlier Joginder Pal alias Gogi had murdered Dulla Badmash of Bhargo Camp and the present accused who were his companions had killed his brother as a revenge.
The Investigating Officer made his endorsement Ex. PF/1 leading to the registration of the FIR Ex. PF/2 by SI Pritam Singh.
Inspector Gurmit Singh had sent ruqas Exs. PL and PM to Police Station. He also examined the dead body and prepared inquest Ex. PN. Police request by way of PO was prepared for post mortem examination and the dead body along with police papers was handed over to HC Charanjit Singh and HC Joginder Pal. Thereafter Jyoti PW12 wife of the deceased helped the police in examining the place from where the Investigating Officer lifted blood stained earth by way of parcel Ex. MO/1 and sample of plain earth Ex. MO/2 which were taken into police possession through Ex.PG. Rough site plan Ex. PF of the place or recovery was prepared. Statements of the witnesses were recorded. After the post mortem examination articles of the dead body consisting of Pyjama, Vest, Underwear Ex. MO/4 to MO/6 which were stained with blood were taken by way of memo Ex.PH.
Tiwana Dalbir Singh 2014.01.21 16:43 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document. High Court, Chandigarh CRA-D-48-DB of 2009 & CRA-D-552-DB of 2010 4
During the course of events the parcels were dispatched to the Forensic Science Laboratory. On completion of investigations, challans were presented at different periods.
It is worth while to refer here that on arrest of accused Mohinder Pal alias Pinki he was put to trial before the learned Sessions Judge, Jalandhar by way of Sessions Trial No. 53 of 2008 bearing Sessions Case No. 13 of 2009 and vide judgment dated 14.11.2009 he was acquitted of the charges. Similarly on arrest of accused Vijay Kumar he was tried by the court of learned Sessions Judge by way of Sessions Trial No. 21 of 2010 bearing Sessions Case No. 13 of 2009 and vide judgment dated 6.4.2010 was found guilty and convicted for commission of offence of murder. Against these findings convict-appellant Vijay Kumar has preferred Criminal Appeal No. D-552-DB of 2010. However, during the pendency of the appeal, the appellant on the information furnished having died and thus the appeal stood abated.
Consequent upon arrest of Raman Kumar alias Gora, Sandeep Kumar alias Deepa Bhaiya and Ajay Kumar alias Ghakhi, they were tried in Sessions Trial No. 53 of 2008 bearing Sessions case No. 30 of 2007, titled State versus Raman Kumar and others and vide judgment order dated 1.11.2008 were held guilty for this murder and were sentenced as follows:-
"To undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs 3000/- each and in default of payment of fine to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for six months each."
Tiwana Dalbir Singh 2014.01.21 16:43 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document. High Court, Chandigarh CRA-D-48-DB of 2009 & CRA-D-552-DB of 2010 5
The convicts present appellants have preferred Criminal Appeal No. D-48-DB of 2009 interalia on the grounds detailed therein.
The prosecution in the trial of the present appellants-convicts have examined the following witnesses:-
PW1 Dr. Raman Kumar Gupta who conducted the post mortem examination of the dead body and underlined 19 injures which were ante-mortem in nature and sufficient to cause death in ordinary course of nature proving the post mortem report Ex. PA and opined that such injuries could be caused by Kirpan Ex. MO1 and Datar Ex. MO2.
PW2 Dalip Singh Draftsman proved scaled site plan of the place of occurrence Ex. PB.
PW3 Constable Joginder Pal tendered his affidavit Ex. PC regarding post mortem examination on the dead body. PW4 C. Charanjit Singh by way of affidavit Ex. PD brought about the deposit of the parcels containing the weapon in FSL in an intact condition.
PW5 Sukhwinder Singh by means of his affidavit Ex. PE testified the safe handling of parcels consisting of the articles of the dead body etc. in an intact condition to the FSL. PW6 Surinder Pal complainant gave eye witness account of this occurrence attributing roles to each of the accused and how in his presence a pair of blood stained chappals Ex. MO/1 and Tiwana Dalbir Singh 2014.01.21 16:43 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document. High Court, Chandigarh CRA-D-48-DB of 2009 & CRA-D-552-DB of 2010 6 shirt Ex MO2 were recovered by the Investigating Officer by way of memo Ex. PG. He also brought about the handing over of the parcel Ex. MO3 containing blood stained articles of the dead body by way of memo Ex. PH and proved the articles of the deceased as MO4 to MO6 and proved his statement made to the police as Ex. PF.
PW7 Manohar Lal has corroborated materially ocular version given by the complainant.
PW8 ASI Naresh Kumar attesting witness proved investigation conducted by Inspector Gurmit Singh and his signatures on the memos and proved articles Ex. MO/1, MO/2, recovery memos Exs. PG and PH. The witness testified having arrested Raman Kumar and Sandeep Kumar on 22.6.2007 and while in police custody accused Raman Kumar suffered disclosure statement Ex. PJ and on the basis of which accused led the police party and got recovered Datar Ex. MO/2, whose rough sketch Ex. PJ was prepared and after converting into the parcel Ex. PJ/2 regarding which rough site plan Ex.PJ/3 was prepared. Similarly he proved the interrogation of accused Sandeep Kumar while in police custody who suffered disclosure statement Ex. PK on the basis of which the accused led the police party and got recovered Datar Ex. MO/1 whose rough sketch Ex. P1 was prepared by this witness and after preparing Tiwana Dalbir Singh 2014.01.21 16:43 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document. High Court, Chandigarh CRA-D-48-DB of 2009 & CRA-D-552-DB of 2010 7 its parcel took the same into police possession vide memo Ex. PK/2 and proved the rough site plan of the place of recovery as Ex.PJ/3.
PW9 SI Bikramjit Singh proved the delivery of the special reports.
PW10 Inspector Gurmit Singh, the Investigating Officer who initially investigated the case detailed the investigation undertaken by him proving documents Exs. PL, PM, PN, PO and articles Exs. MO/4 to MO/6.
PW11 HC Satish Kumar who was posted as MHC deposed about the safe deposit of the parcels with him and their handing over to different officials for being deposited in the Laboratory. PW12 Jyoti the widow of the deceased gave eye witness account of the occurrence and proved her signatures on memo Ex. PG.
PW13 Inspector Major Singh brought about the arrest of accused Ajay Kumar alias Ghoki on 23.11.2007. The witness testified that while in police custody on 26.11.2007 the accused suffered disclosure statement Ex. PG on the basis of which he led the police party and got a kirpan Ex. MO/3 recovered which was prepared into a parcel after preparing its rough sketch Ex. PH through memo Ex. PR.
Tiwana Dalbir Singh 2014.01.21 16:43 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document. High Court, Chandigarh CRA-D-48-DB of 2009 & CRA-D-552-DB of 2010 8 Thereafter prosecution tendered FSL report Ex. PT and P4 and closed the evidence.
All the accused in their statement under section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure denied the allegations of the prosecution taking the plea of innocence of false implication. The accused in their defence examined the following witnesses:-
DW1 HC Major Singh who proved FIR Ex. DB to establish that the deceased was proclaimed offender.
DW2 HC Satish Kumar brought about similar facts through FIR Ex. DC after he was declared hostile.
It is consequent upon arguments the judgment of conviction was passed and that is how the present appellants are before this Court.
After hearing Sh. Sandeep Arora, Legal Aid Counsel and Sh. Pavit Mattewal, Additional Advocate General, Punjab having their invaluable assistance have the opportunity to go through the record of the case. The homicidal death of Joginder Pal alias Gogi though not the bone of contention at the arguments. However, to resolve the nature of the injuires and causes of this death testimony of PW1 Dr. Raman Kumar Gupta needs to be gone into. The witness has on the basis of post mortem report Ex. PA proved that there were 19 wounds out of which 18 were incised wounds and one wound was multiple linear abrasion. These injuries are on the right side of chin, right cheek, above right cheek, below right ear, above right ear, right side of forehead, on the midline of frontal and parietal region of the Tiwana Dalbir Singh 2014.01.21 16:43 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document. High Court, Chandigarh CRA-D-48-DB of 2009 & CRA-D-552-DB of 2010 9 head, near the midline of parietal region, right occipital region, on the right upper arm, right fore arm, right wrist, left knee, right knee and left medial malleolus. Thus it stands substantiated from the seats of injuries that they all were aimed towards the head and it might have been when the deceased tried to evade the blows by raising his hands some injuries had been caused to his fore limbs. It in itself establishes beyond any doubt as to the intent of the assailants. The doctor in no uncertain terms after going through the weapons kirpan Ex. MO/1 and Datar Ex. MO/2 has specifically stated that these injuries on the dead body could be result of these weapons. Learned counsel for the appellants could not bring anything in the evidence of the prosecution or of this expert which could instill an element of doubt on this veracity. The injuries also enumerate the cutting of the underlying bones, fracture of the bones and laceration of the brain matter shows the force used and the impact of these weapons.
There are three eye witnesses to this occurrence which the prosecution claims are the widow, real brother and friend of the brother. Though on behalf of the appellants, the counsel has sought to put to doubt the presence of the brother and the wife and so of the friend at the time of the occurrence, no doubt the occurrence has taken place around 10.30 PM and there is sufficient explanation put forth by the complainant that in order to take meals for his hospitalized brother-in-law, he has come to his brother deceased Joginder Pal and after coming to know of it that they had gone to Lakkar Chowk to bring them and it was at this juncture they happened to Tiwana Dalbir Singh 2014.01.21 16:43 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document. High Court, Chandigarh CRA-D-48-DB of 2009 & CRA-D-552-DB of 2010 10 hear the shrieks of the wife of the deceased and when reached there witnessed the occurrence. The witness has clearly stated that at the time of this occurrence there was street light which is also supported by PW7. Thus, as has been contended by Sh. Pavit Mattewal, learned Addl. AG, the question of identifying the assailants and the manner of the occurrence cannot be doubted. More so it reflects from the testimony of these three eye witnesses that the accused were known to them and that is how they have named these persons at the very first instance. The appellants before this Court Raman Kumar alias Gora, Sandeep Kumar alias Deepa Bhaiya and Ajay Kumar alias Khakhi have each been attributed injury to the deceased. The complainant has specifically stated that he is not aware of the full names of the accused persons and that is why have given their popular nick names. Obviously as such reflected from the stand of two sides the accused as well as the deceased appears to be musclemen with history of revenge as it is not denied even by the appellants' counsel which too is their stand that it was on account of murder of Dulla by the deceased his companions had taken revenge and which motive has been fully established and rather DW1 and DW2 bear out testimony of these that the deceased was a proclaimed offender in this case. Appellants' counsel could not highlight anything adverse that has come in cross-examination of PW6 Surinder Pal and PW7 Manohar Lal and similar is the situation qua cross-examination of PW8 Jyoti who is widow of the deceased and her presence along with the husband appears to be highly plausible and acceptable and has clearly stated that they Tiwana Dalbir Singh 2014.01.21 16:43 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document. High Court, Chandigarh CRA-D-48-DB of 2009 & CRA-D-552-DB of 2010 11 had gone to the house of their parents from where they were returning at around 10.00 PM and has clearly brought about that a large number of persons had gathered at the time of the occurrence and she regained her consciousness after her husband had been removed to the hospital. Though much stress has been laid by the appellants' counsel that this witness in her statement Ex. DA has sought to claim that she had rushed the injured to the hospital but this is not so in the testimonies of PW6 and PW7, is not of much material consequence as the evidence of the witness has to be taken in wholesome manner and has stated in her cross-examination that while her husband was lying on the ground she became unconscious and fell down. Obviously being a young married lady at the sight of such cruel incident is likely to suffer in such a manner. She has stated that she never disclosed to the police that she had removed her husband to the hospital and rather has stated that his brother and another person had taken the injured to the hospital. From this overall evidence of the eye witnesses it stands duly substantiated that the ocular version is duly corroborated and materially supported by the medical evidence.
As per the prosecution allegations it was on the basis of the disclosure statement of Raman Kumar alias Gora Ex. PJ, Sandeep Kumar alias Deepa Bhaiya Ex. PK and Ajay Kumar alias Ghoki Ex. PQ made while in police custody and on the basis of the information so provided by these accused has led to the recovery of the weapon consisting of Datars and a Kirpan and which recoveries have been well brought about by ASI Naresh Tiwana Dalbir Singh 2014.01.21 16:43 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document. High Court, Chandigarh CRA-D-48-DB of 2009 & CRA-D-552-DB of 2010 12 Kumar PW8 who interrogated these persons and furthermore Inspector Major Singh PW13 who arrested accused Ajay Kumar alias Ghoki had established that the accused while in police custody had given information leading to the recovery of the Kirpan from his conscious possession. From the evidence of these Investigating Officers of these recoveries, it clearly stand established beyond any doubt i.e. on the basis of the information given by the accused had led to these recoveries of the weapons which was got recovered from the exclusive and conscious possession of these accused persons and therefore, by all means are legitimate piece of evidence in terms of section 27 of the Evidence Act. Together with the fact as per the report of the Forensic Science Laboratory Ex. PT, the Kirpan was stained with human blood and so is the Datars so recovered from these accused. In the light of this evidence as has come through Forensic Science Laboratory Ex. PU even the articles recovered at the spot by way of kameej, pair of chappals Exs. MO/4 to MO/6 and of the dead body taken after the post mortem examination kachha, pyjama are also stained with human blood leaves no scope to doubt the manner of this occurrence. The place of occurrence though has not been denied in the statements on behalf of the appellants. However, testimony of the eye witnesses long with Dalip Singh PW2 Draftsman, Investigating Officer Inspector Gurmit Singh PW10 irrefutably establishes that it was the place situated in Lakkar Chowk near Bhargo Camp, Jalandhar deceased Joginder Pal alias Gogi was murdered. The motive having remained unrefuted being outcome of previous hostility Tiwana Dalbir Singh 2014.01.21 16:43 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document. High Court, Chandigarh CRA-D-48-DB of 2009 & CRA-D-552-DB of 2010 13 leading to murder of Dulla from the camp of the accused are matters which pushes forward the case of the prosecution in establishing to the hilt.
The learned lower court has given a well reasoned judgment in listing the various moot points involved and has come to a totally justifiable conclusion. Thus, we are not inclined to interfere in these findings which are upheld. Finding the appeal to be without any merit, the same stands dismissed.
(Hemant Gupta)
Judge
(Fateh Deep Singh)
Septemper 19, 2013 Judge
'tiwana'
Tiwana Dalbir Singh
2014.01.21 16:43
I attest to the accuracy and
integrity of this document.
High Court, Chandigarh